Child abuse is everybody's business, experts say

Rex Larsen | The Grand Rapids PressMarianne Boykin, of the Children's Assessment Center in Grand Rapids, is an interview specialist and clinical supervisor who interviews children to investigate sexual abuse.

GRAND RAPIDS — Like just about anyone who has read news reports of child sex abuse tied to Penn State University, Marianne Boykin was saddened. She was sickened. She was frustrated.

But Boykin, the clinical supervisor at the Children’s Assessment Center in Grand Rapids, was not surprised.

It’s virtually guaranteed children are being abused today in West Michigan, she said, but there is a good chance the abuse will never be reported.

“This is something that happens in everybody’s neighborhood. We need to take responsibility for protecting our kids,” she said.

For all the outrage at each case of abuse made public, many more are hidden. Boykin said studies suggest only one in 20 is reported or identified.

Why? Victims may decide out of shame or fear of retaliation not to tell. Family members may protect each other. Institutions may shield the abuser. Or other adults may think it’s none of their business.

The Children’s Assessment Center works with local law enforcement to coordinate investigations of abuse and offers counseling to victims.

But Boykin said the Penn State scandal underlines the limits on enforcement if those who know fail to report abuses to police.

“It’s important for everyone to take away from this that beyond a legal responsibility, every adult has a moral responsibility to protect children.”

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years, with several alleged incidents occurring on university property. Football coach Joe Paterno and President Graham Spanier were fired because trustees felt they did not do enough to alert law enforcement authorities after an alleged assault in March 2002.

For Ada resident Steven Kelly, 43, the news sent him back to a dark time in his past. “I felt like I was 11 years old again,” Kelly said.

The young victim of abuse by a Catholic priest, Kelly said he told his parents only months later.

They were at a loss for what to do, dumbfounded a church official they held in such high regard was capable of such acts.

But they never reported it to police.

In 1983, the priest was sentenced in Muskegon County for assault and battery involving a 13-year-old boy. After other cases of abuse surfaced, the priest in 2002 was removed from his duties.

Years after they learned of the abuse, Kelly’s family wrote a letter to church authorities. “Sixteen years after Steven haltingly told us that you molested him, we are still suffering as a family, “ Kenneth and Mary Ann Kelly wrote in 1997.

“We thought it would be best for Steven if he did not have to repeat what he told us to the proper civic and church authorities. We were very wrong.”

The U.S. Catholic Church has paid a heavy price in similar cases across the country, reporting that dioceses and religious orders spent nearly $2.1 billion in 2004-08 on settlements, therapy for victims, support for offenders, attorneys’ fees and other costs.

Kelly, a coordinator for the local chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, hopes the Penn State allegations serve as a wake-up call to any adult with the power to stop such abuse.

“It’s sad that we will have this in 2011, that this is still so prevalent in our society,” he said. “We put such a small value on our children.”

Kelly said he was glad that Paterno was fired: “It should have been immediately. It speaks volumes about the kind of person he is.”

Michigan law mandates that a cross-section of professions with regular contact with children report suspected abuse to the Department of Human Services. They include physicians, dentists, social workers, teachers and school officials, police officers, counselors, day care providers and clergy.

The law is silent on the obligations of others.

At Spectrum Health hospitals, staffers are well aware of their obligations to report abuse to Child Protective Services, spokesman Bruce Rossman said.

Nelson Miller

“We take it very seriously,” he said. Anyone can file a report. It doesn’t have to be by consensus. ...

“Our threshold is even a suspicion. It doesn’t have to be proof.”

Failure to report abuse may not bring criminal charges. But Nelson Miller, dean of Cooley Law School in Grand Rapids, warned it could put corporations or institutions in jeopardy for a lawsuit.

“An employer or public institution could be liable for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars,” Miller said.

He said they can reasonably be expected to take steps to protect vulnerable individuals, including screening and monitoring of employees and putting in place procedures for reporting abuse.

Beyond that, Miller said, it comes down to an old standard.

“The Golden Rule: Do unto others what you would have them do unto you — or your child.”